The invention generally relates to the field of devices for interfacing with a network medium, and more specifically to an apparatus and method for interfacing with different system host configurations.
A network typically connects multiple system hosts or nodes (for example, a set of computers) to each other to allow the system hosts to share data with each other in the form of data packets sent and received over a network medium. Each system host has an internal system bus which is connected to the network medium using an interface device. The interface device is configured to be compliant with the connectivity standards and protocols of the network medium. In addition, the interface device is configured to be compliant with the connectivity standards and protocols of the system host.
Unfortunately, however, different system hosts have different connectivity standards and protocols used to communicate with networking interface devices. For example, one system host may have a media access controller (MAC) which communicates via a medium independent interface (MII) using IEEE standard 802.3 and another system host may support peripheral component interconnect (PCI) devices using a PCI standard. Therefore, for each network medium standard, manufacturers of interface devices generally provide multiple versions of the interface device to be compatible with each system host connectivity standard. In addition, purchasers of interface devices must be careful to select the correct interface device for their system host.
The present invention is a networking interface device for coupling a system host having one of a plurality configurations to a network medium. The networking interface device has a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface for coupling the interface device to a system host configured with a PCI based system bus interface; a medium independent interface (MII) for coupling the interface device to a system host configured with a media access controller (MAC) based system bus interface; and a buffer management device (BMU) having an active state for bursting data packet traffic via the PCI interface when the interface device is coupled to a PCI based system bus interface and a passive state for continuously passing data packet traffic via the MII when the interface device is coupled to a MAC based system bus interface.
According to another aspect of the invention, the invention is a method of operably coupling a system host to a network medium using an interface device, the system host having either a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) based system bus interface or a media access controller (MAC) based system bus interface. The method includes the steps of detecting the type of system bus interface of the system host; generating a suspend burst signal upon detection of a MAC based system bus interface; and reconfiguring a buffer management unit (BMU) from an active state for bursting data packet traffic for the PCI based system bus interface to a passive state for continuously passing data packet traffic for the MAC based system bus interface.